By Nia West-Bey | Executive Director
It's official! DC's first Youth Peer Operated Center is open, bringing all of FAN's programs under one roof. Center Activities include our after school and summer program, a youth and young adult drop-in center, targeted case management, peer support, and referral.
In our first month, we hosted an Open House to introduce the new center to the community, and kicked off our afterschool program, serving 15 young people every day after school. We expect to grow the afterschool program to serve twice that number of youth in the coming months. We show love at FAN every day, but we had a special celebration for Valentine's Day with youth and their families.
Our work with our alumni is in full swing, with a Certified Youth Peer specialist to provide one-on-one and group support to young adults with jobs, housing, health, and mental health. Our alumni also provided great input on activities to offer at the center. At that meeting, we opened by asking alumni to share what they love about FAN, or what they liked about FAN when they were younger. Their answers gave voice to why we're so excited about the expanded capacity that the new center provides:
We still have some work to do to reach our fundraising goal for the year and make sure that the Youth POC reaches its potential. But already the buzz is that FAN's center is a standout model for youth-led peer support!
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